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Dragon beetle
Dragon beetles were extremely large insectoid creatures, similar in appearance to potato bugs, but on a massive scale. Less commonly, they were known as armadillo bugs. They were nomadic travelers and voracious eaters, capable of deforesting entire areas. They tended to travel in packs, moving from one site to the next in search of food. They had eight eyes or more, but navigated using their antennae as their primary sensory apparatus. They would eat potentially anything, but were particularly fond of starflower blossoms. They were capable of digging for hours at a time in search of food. Dragon beetles were formidable creatures, easily near the top of the food chain. They used their large mouth pincers to grasp smaller creatures and a smaller, secondary maw to mash up food, salivating a digestive enzymatic gel that enabled them to process food more easily. Additionally, they used a sticky, tongue-like organ to grasp food and draw it into their mouths. Their tail barb stingers were also poisonous. They emitted a shrill, ear-piercing cry, recognized throughout the realm as one of the loudest and most terrifying sounds in the world. A dragon beetle is believed to be responsible for burrowing through the trunk of the ancient Tree that was later discovered to be the dwelling space of the Flightless One. Pixie clan leader Nyx said that a dragon beetle inadvertantly dug up an ancient piece of the World-Breaker weapon, which the pixies began to use to break up indestructible bloodrock into weapons and armor. At one point, at the beginning of Mariposa's leadership of the butterfly colony, she encountered a small dragon beetle near her village and cornered it on a mountain precipice. The dragon beetle fell to its death before she made an attempt to kill it. In the days to come, Mariposa would be forced to slay over ten dragon beetles. The rural community of Wyndemylne once attempted to exterminate the dragon beetles by constructing the Forgotten Basin, but the plan failed and the farmers were devoured. A Butterfly's Tale King Papillon of Torlynn had captured a dragon beetle at some point and kept it in his tournament arena, executing hapless victims in the arena and using it as a spectacle to lure attendees. When Mariposa was thrown into the arena, she engaged the dragon beetle and, with the help of "Four" Wheeler, defeated the dragon beetle by throwing some flammable nectar into its mouth and then using a torch to ignite the nectar. The Quest for the World-Breaker Later, two wounded dragon beetles were trapped by the moths, who had tied large rope leashes to them and used them to try to locate additional pieces of the World-Breaker. They sprinkled potential excavation sites with starflowers, luring the dragon beetles and prompting them to dig through the soil to look for more. The dragon beetles were later released. The Curse of the Fate Shifter Mariposa initially suspected dragon beetles to be responsible for the two large craters that had been excavated outside the Callithumpian Interrobang?! in Frontwater, when in fact it was the Dwarf digger that was responsible. The Veil of Souls Mirabel Miller pondered finding a way to get a dragon beetle to destroy the guardhouse in Heaven's Cradle in order to break her out of prison, though it seemed like an unlikely scheme. Category:Creatures Category:Tools Category:Arena Gladiators Category:Insects Category:Plot Devices